Back To Square One
by CarolinaGal08
Summary: The fight in Angel Square left Natalie with more damage than a neck brace and a few bruises. After watching her life unravel again, Natalie and the whole Buchanan family will learn that sometimes, you have to go back to square one to find yourself again.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** This is a story that has been brewing in the background for quite some time. I've written a scene or two at a time over the years as inspiration struck in the midst of other stories, but I feel it's finally coming together as a complete story and is ready for sharing with all of you (don't worry, I'll also still be updating the other stories I've got in progress - I expect to have the next chapter of Her Mother's Daughter up in the next week or so, and the epilogue to Missing Pieces later this month). This actually started as two separate stories that I was working on, but they seem to have blended nicely into one overarching story. In terms of the timeline, this story begins immediately after the big fight that Natalie and Jessica had in September 2011 (right after Natalie and Brody got engaged). And for those who are wondering - yes, this story will be Jolie endgame. I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

Natalie Banks stared blankly at the taupe-colored walls of the small hospital room, a completely passive expression on her face as the nurse wheeled an ultrasound machine into the room and plugged it in before handing the probe to Vivian Wright.

"Are you sure you don't want to have Brody in here for this, Natalie? Is he in the waiting room?" Vivian asked. "I can have someone go get him if you'd like."

Natalie shook her head slightly as Vivian pulled a stool up next to the bed and began adjusting the machine.

"I sent him to the cafeteria," she said. "I told him there was no point in hovering and I'd call when I was done being examined. He'd ask too many questions if he saw you in here with that machine."

Vivian frowned slightly as she placed the ultrasound probe on Natalie's abdomen and watched the screen for a few minutes, carefully maneuvering the probe in an attempt to find what she was looking for. "Natalie…does he know?"

"Is there anything for him to know now?" Natalie asked, turning her head to look at the ultrasound screen.

Vivian sighed as she removed the probe and reached for a towel to wipe the gel off Natalie's abdomen. "I'm so sorry, Natalie," she said. "There doesn't appear to be a heartbeat, and with the cramping and bleeding you've experienced already…well, I wish I had better news."

Natalie shrugged.

Vivian hesitated, wanting to say more but knowing there was a lot more to the situation than Natalie was letting on. "Alright, well, I'll let the ER team know what's going on," she said. "From my perspective, you'll probably still be able to go home tonight, but I'd like to keep you here for a least a few more hours to make sure that things proceed as expected and we don't need to do any further interventions. Okay?"

"Yeah, okay," Natalie nodded, barely making eye contact as Vivian squeezed her forearm gently and stood up before exiting the room.

Closing her eyes, Natalie leaned back against the cold hospital bed as she silently reviewed the events that had led her to this moment. The one night stand with her sister's boyfriend. The cascade of lies. The falsified DNA tests. The dissolution of pretty much every important relationship in her life. She could see the disappointment in her mother's eyes. Her father's disdain at the idea of her marrying Brody. The despair mixed with disgust on John's face every time he looked at her. And, most recently and perhaps most painful of all, the hatred in her sister's eyes as they'd traded barbs and then punches.

It was all over now, she knew that. There'd be no more family holidays, no playdates for the young cousins, no more late nights laughing with her sister, no more heart-to-heart chats with her mother. The family had taken sides, and she was going to be out in the cold again. She'd thought she was doing the right thing, making a family for herself with Brody and Liam, but suddenly, she just wasn't sure about any of it.

With a heavy sigh, she opened her eyes and knew what she had to do. Standing up as fast as she could with the aches and pains that seemed to accompany her every movement, she pulled out her IV line, stripped off her hospital gown, and put her regular clothing back on. Poking her head cautiously out the door, she waited until the hallway was clear before she slipped out of her room and quickly made her way toward the ER's back exit.

* * *

"Alright, Liam, I think that's everything," Natalie said, looking over at her son as she pulled the zipper closed on her small suitcase. Taking a quick look around the bedroom area she'd shared with Brody, she winced as she picked up the suitcase and put Liam on her hip.

Pausing in the kitchen, she wondered if Brody had realized yet that she wasn't still in that ER room. If he had, she knew she didn't have much time before he came barging through the door, because their apartment would be the first place he'd come looking for her. With a sigh, she set the suitcase down and reached into her back pocket, pulling out an envelope that contained a hastily written note. Dropping it on the table, she slowly removed her engagement ring and placed it next to the envelope, feeling oddly light without the ring on her finger.

"Mama," Liam said, reaching out and touching her cheek.

Natalie smiled sadly and kissed his forehead. "Don't worry, sweetie, we'll be okay," she whispered, more to herself than to Liam. "It's just going to be me and you for a bit while Mama figures some things out, but we'll be okay. I promise, I'm going to figure out how to fix this. We'll be okay."

With one last look at the apartment she'd thought for a time might become a home, she once again picked up the suitcase. Holding her son tightly, she walked out the front door, knowing that, in what she figured was true Natalie style, she was leaving a bonafide disaster in her wake.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** As I'm sure any of you who've been reading my stories for a while could guess, most updates will not be quite this quick, but I had this second chapter nearly finished, so I figured I wouldn't wait to get it posted for you all. I hope you enjoy!

* * *

Three days later, Natalie set her suitcase down on the front steps of the familiar, yet somehow still somewhat imposing, townhouse facade. Glancing down at her son sleeping peacefully in her arms, she marveled at his ability to look so peaceful in the face of both the chaotic city streets around them and the crumbling disaster that was, once again, his mother's life. It had taken her nearly 72 hours driving aimlessly around Pennsylvania and New Jersey, sleeping in cheap motels to avoid using her credit cards, to figure out where she wanted to go. Even as she knocked on the massive oak door in front of her and waited for it to be opened, though, she wasn't completely sure she'd made the right decision.

"Natalie?! Oh my God, what are you doing here? Are you alright?"

Natalie shook her head and almost cried at the honest concern in her older brother's voice when he opened the door.

"Hi Kevin," she said, her voice trembling. "Can I, uh…can we come in?"

"Of course," Kevin said, reaching out and grabbing her suitcase before stepping back to allow her into the entryway. "Natalie, Mom said you disappeared without a trace. Everyone in Llanview's been worried sick about you these last few days."

"I left a note," Natalie said defensively. "And not everyone's worried, I'm sure."

Setting the suitcase down, Kevin took a hard look at his sister as he took in her haggard appearance, shaking his head at the cuts and bruises on her face and the deep purple marks that were glaringly obvious on her neck, not to mention the bags under her eyes and the pale color of her skin that indicated she had probably not been eating or sleeping well for days.

"Oh Natalie," he sighed. "What the hell happened to you and Jessica?"

"I screwed everything up again, what else is new?" Natalie asked scornfully. "Apparently trying to find a little bit of happiness in the mess that I call my life was the wrong thing to do, at least as long as it doesn't meet with her approval."

"Natalie, Jessie loves you, you know that's not…"

"You know what, this was a mistake. I shouldn't have come here," Natalie said, reaching out for her suitcase. "I'm going to go. I'm sure _Jessie_ will appreciate all the support she can get. She's real family, after all."

Kevin shook his head and grabbed her wrist before she could reach the bag. "Jessica has Mom and Dad for support," he said. "And what the hell is this about _real_ family? Are we back to that crap again, Natalie? You are my sister, whether you like it or not."

"I know that, but…"

"No buts," Kevin interrupted, watching her face carefully. "What the hell did Jessica say to you? One fight and we erase the last ten years?"

"She wasn't entirely wrong," Natalie said. "Dad refused to give Brody his blessing. They're never going to accept us. They're making me choose between my family and the father of my child. Can you honestly say they'd do the same if it were Jessica? Or you? Or Joey?"

"Natalie, they love you, they just want…"

"You married Joey's wife," Natalie pointed out. "Did they try to disown you when you did that?"

"No," Kevin admitted. "But no one's going to disown you, either, Natalie."

"You didn't hear Dad," Natalie said.

"Natalie, I can't speak for Mom and Dad," Kevin said. "And maybe it's because I've had the benefit of being thousands of miles away for most of this, but you should know that no matter what happens, you're my sister. I don't care who you marry or how many fights you and Jessica get into, you are my sister and I've got your back."

"You really mean that?"

"Of course I do," Kevin said, reaching out and hugging her before taking Liam out of her arms. "Now, how long are you two planning to stay?"

Natalie shrugged. "I don't know, a couple of days maybe," she said. "I didn't really think anything through when I got on that plane. I just knew I needed to get as far away from Llanview as possible, and I couldn't think of anyplace else to go."

"Alright," Kevin nodded. "Then can I make a suggestion?"

"You're going to anyway," Natalie said knowingly.

Kevin laughed and nodded. "Stay a couple of weeks," he said. "I think maybe you need some time away from everything and everyone back home, including Jessica _and_ Brody."

"I don't know…"

"Natalie, don't take this the wrong way, but you look like death warmed over," Kevin said. "You need some rest, you need some time to yourself, maybe a little time with your favorite brother…"

"That's right, Joey's in London, isn't he?" Natalie asked, earning a scowl from Kevin before they both started laughing.

"Come on, I'll take some time off," Kevin said. "We'll go be tourists together. We'll take goofy selfies in front of the guards at Buckingham Palace and have high tea at the Ritz and ride the London Eye. And then we'll make Joey and Kelly babysit Liam while we run off to Paris to eat chocolates and croissants and drink way too much red wine. And we won't talk about Jessica or Brody or weddings or fights or anything to do with Llanview. You can't tell me that doesn't sound like fun."

"Oh all right," Natalie conceded. "But if I can't fit in my pants when we're done because of those croissants, I'm going to hurt you."

* * *

The next morning, Kevin paused in the doorway of the living room as he watched Natalie curled up in the corner of the couch, an empty look in her eyes as she stared aimlessly out the window. He hadn't thought it was possible at the time, but if anything, she looked worse than she had when she'd arrived the night before.

"So," he said gently, sitting down next to her. "I noticed you're not wearing an engagement ring."

Natalie nodded as she held up her hand and looked down at her bare finger. "I left it on the kitchen table," she said. "With a note, of course."

"What did the note say?"

"Not much," Natalie said. "I just told him I was sorry, that I couldn't do it anymore. I couldn't stick around and watch my family fall apart because of me. I told him Liam was safe with me, that I'd call when I was ready, but that he shouldn't look for us in the meantime. And then I asked him not to hate me."

"Natalie, I'm sure Brody doesn't hate you," Kevin assured her. "Does this mean you're not going to marry him?"

"I don't know," Natalie admitted. "Probably."

"Why not?"

"Things changed."

Kevin sighed as he wrapped his arm around Natalie's shoulders and pulled her against him, frowning when he realized that despite the cool London morning, she was sweating. "C'mon, Natalie, it's me, your big brother," he said. "You can talk to me. What really happened? How did you go from being ready to marry the guy over the objection of most of the family, to leaving a note and running away, in a matter of hours?"

"I was pregnant," Natalie admitted quietly, resting her head against Kevin's shoulder so she wouldn't have to look up at him.

"You were what? When?"

"Pregnant," Natalie repeated. "When Brody proposed, I was pregnant. I'd known for a few weeks, but hadn't figured out the right way to tell him yet. Honestly, I'm not sure I would have said yes if it hadn't been for the pregnancy."

"Why not? You two already have one kid together."

"I know," Natalie agreed. "And logically, that was enough to start the relationship, so it should have been enough to say yes to marrying him. When I found out I was pregnant, though, it just felt different somehow, like now we were really tied together. I know it doesn't make any sense. We already had Liam, but this one was different. I can't explain it, it was just a really strong feeling."

"So what happened?" Kevin asked.

"The fight," Natalie said, taking a breath to stave off the tears. "I thought I was fine, but Brody insisted I go to the hospital to get checked out, and when he was out of the room, I told the doctor about the pregnancy. They ordered an ultrasound, just to be safe, but by the time they got the machine into the room for the scan, I'd started cramping and bleeding. It wasn't much of a surprise when they couldn't find the heartbeat."

"Natalie…"

"I messed everything up, Kevin," Natalie said, the tears now running down her cheeks despite her best efforts. "I finally was in a good place with my relationship with John, and I screwed that up by lying to him. And then when he wouldn't forgive me and Jessica was off the rails as Tess, I tried to make things right with Brody, and to build some sort of family for my son, and then that screwed everything up with Jessica, who's never going to forgive me, and Mom and Dad have turned against us, and then…then to top it all off, I got another innocent baby involved, and I even managed to screw that up before it could even be born."

"Natalie, look at me," Kevin said, turning her chin so she was looking up at him. "This was not your fault. Yes, you probably made some mistakes along the way, but everyone makes mistakes, even Dad and John and Jessica. But that miscarriage, that was _not_ your fault. Believe me, I know how much it hurts to lose a child, and if I could take that pain away from you, I would do it in a heartbeat. I can't do that, but I can promise you that it was not your fault, and I am going to tell you that every day - multiple times a day if you need it - for as long as it takes to get you to understand that."

"I just feel like I can't think straight anymore," Natalie said. "It's like for a minute, everything was so clear, and now it's just all a foggy mess."

Kevin nodded as he hugged Natalie and kissed her forehead. "You're really warm, Natalie," he said in concern.

"I was just thinking it was cold in here," Natalie said.

Shaking his head, Kevin stood up quickly. "Come on," he said, holding out his hand to her. "I think you've worried yourself sick, literally."

"Where are we going?" Natalie asked, not having the energy to argue as she was led out of the room.

"_You_ are going to bed," Kevin said. "I'm going to get a thermometer and have Neville bring you some soup, and then I'm going to call the doctor."


	3. Chapter 3

That afternoon, Kevin sat down at his desk in his home office and slowly picked up his cell phone. Natalie was asleep in her room, having finally been convinced to take the medication the family doctor had given her for what he'd assured them was most likely a virus, and Liam was off spending the afternoon out with Joey and Kelly. That left him on his own, and as he'd tried to get a little work done, he had been hit with the sudden realization that they still hadn't let anyone else know that Natalie was here.

Dialing the familiar number for his father's cell phone, he pressed it to his ear, guessing that despite the fact that it was barely breakfast time in Llanview, most of the family would had been up for hours.

"Hello?"

"Dad, it's Kevin," he said. "I need to talk to you."

"Kevin, I don't have time to talk business right now," Clint said. "Natalie still hasn't resurfaced after that throw down she had with Jessica, and I'm having a hell of a time keeping your mother calm about the whole thing. If your sister doesn't show her face soon…"

"She's here, Dad," Kevin interrupted.

"What?"

"She's in London."

"Who's in London?" Clint asked in confusion.

"Natalie," Kevin clarified. "With Liam, of course. They're both here at Mayfair, they arrived last night."

"Thank God," Clint sighed. "What the hell is she doing in London?"

"I don't know, maybe she wanted some family support," Kevin suggested.

"Don't you take that tone with me," Clint warned. "Your sister would get plenty of support right here in Llanview, she didn't need to run thousands of miles away to find that."

"From what she's said, it kind of sounds like maybe she did, Dad," Kevin said. "Look, I didn't call to argue with you about Natalie. I just wanted to let you know that she's safe."

"I'm glad to hear it," Clint said. "When is she coming home?"

"I don't know," Kevin said. "If I had to guess, I'd say not for a while. I'm taking a little time off from BE to spend some time with her."

"What if I say no to that?" Clint asked.

Kevin sighed. "Dad, I wasn't asking your permission," Kevin said. "I don't have any big accounts pending, and Joey and Cord are more than capable of handling the ones I do have right now. I'm the president of BE Europe, I don't need your permission to take time off. If you have a problem with that, you're welcome to go to the board and have me fired."

"Easy now, let's not get carried away," Clint said. "Of course you can take time off, Kevin. But you need to use it to convince your sister to come home."

"Dad, you know Natalie has a mind of her own," Kevin said. "She's a grown woman and she makes her own decisions. She'll come home when she's ready. If she's not, I can't force her to, and I'm not going to try. In the meantime, she and Liam have got a home here in London as long as they want one. Hell, if she wants to stay, I'll give her a job at BE. I'm not sending her away, Dad, not right now."

* * *

Clint hesitated at the doorway of the library, knowing that his ex-wife was not going to like what he had say any more than he'd liked hearing it.

"Where's Jessica?" he asked, looking around the room as he walked in to find Viki sitting alone on the couch.

"She took Ryder to see his father," Viki said. "Bree's at a playdate until this afternoon."

"Who was on the phone?" Clint asked, noticing the receiver in Viki's hands.

"Brody," Viki said, not missing the scowl that crossed Clint's face. "He still hasn't had any word from Natalie, and he's out of his mind with worry, Clint. Whether you like him or not, he's Liam's father and Natalie took his son from him when she ran off. I'm worried about him, you remember what happened all those years ago, after Gigi and Shane…"

"Well, if you're that concerned, you can call back and tell him they're fine," Clint said.

"How do you know that?"

"Kevin called," Clint said. "Natalie and Liam are in London. They're staying at Mayfair with the boys."

"But I spoke to Kevin day before yesterday and he said they hadn't heard from Natalie," Viki said.

"She showed up last night," Clint said. "He doesn't know where she was before that."

"Well, thank heavens they're both safe," Viki sighed. "What flight are they coming home on?"

"They're not."

Viki raised an eyebrow in confusion. "They're not?" she asked. "Didn't you tell Kevin what had happened? That Natalie needs to come home and face her problems?"

"Of course I did," Clint said. "Apparently, Kevin thinks it's better if she stays there for a while. Honestly, the more I think about it, the more I think he might be right. Maybe a little distance would be good for Natalie and Jessica."

"Don't be absurd," Viki said, shaking her head as she picked up the phone and started dialing a number. "Distance is the last thing those girls need, Clint."

Holding up her hand to silence him, Viki pressed the receiver to her ear. "Kevin, darling, it's Mom," she said when she heard her son pick up on the other end of the line.

"Hi Mom," Kevin said, a slight hesitation in his voice. "Is something wrong?"

"Your father tells me that Natalie and Liam are with you," Kevin said.

"They're here, yes," Kevin said.

"Sweetheart, you need to convince your sister to come home," Viki said. "Natalie and Jessica have a lot of issues they need to work out, and they're never going to be able to begin the healing process if they're an ocean apart."

"Mom, I think right now they could be in the same room and still be an ocean apart," Kevin pointed out.

"Be that as it may, things aren't going to get better if they never talk," Viki said. "And an apology over the phone isn't going to cut it."

"Jessica wants to apologize?"

Viki hesitated. "Well, no, I'd say not," she said. "But they have to start somewhere, and I think Natalie apologizing for her role in this would be a good start. Jessica's very shaken up by this whole thing, Kevin. Natalie said some horrible things to her, and you know Jessica, of course she's feeling a little guilty about some things she said too. But darling, it can't possibly be as bad as Natalie dragging up Jessica's paternity. She knows that that's the surest way to hurt her, and it was a low blow for her to bring it up."

Kevin sighed. He'd supported Natalie's decision despite not fully agreeing with it, but as he listened to his mother, he was starting to think that perhaps Natalie wasn't so far off base in thinking she'd get very little support if she went home to Llanview.

"Mom, Jessica tried to strangle her," Kevin said. "Natalie has bruises on her neck in the shape of Jessica's hands. She has trouble turning her head because it hurts so much. She's exhausted, she's barely eating, she's worried herself sick, literally. And yes, of course she shouldn't have brought up Jessica's paternity, we all know that's a very sensitive issue for her. But Jessica gave as good as she got, Mom. She told Natalie we'd have been better off if she had never come into our lives. She brought up Roxy and all that crap about Natalie being trashy, about not fitting in, and you know that's as much of a sensitive subject for Natalie as Jessica's paternity is for her. The first thing Natalie said when she got here was some nonsense about not being _real_ family like Jessica."

"Kevin…"

"I get it, Mom, there's plenty of blame to go around," Kevin said. "But if sending her home means you're going to try to lay it all on Natalie, then no, I'm not sending her home. She's going to stay right here, where at least people are willing to listen to her."

"Darling, that is not what I mean," Viki protested.

"Isn't it?" Kevin asked. "Because that's sure what it sounds like to me, Mom. Look, I know Jessica and Natalie will need to talk at some point, but right now, maybe things are just a little too fresh. I think some time apart could be good for them both, and as long as Natalie wants to be here, Joey and I are going to take of her."


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you sure the doctor said this was just a virus?" Kelly asked that evening as she walked into the kitchen and found Kevin and Joey sitting at the table.

"Yeah, he said it was probably a combination of that and being exhausted from all the traveling," Kevin said. "He said if she's not better tomorrow, she can come by the office and he'll run some blood work."

"Did he actually see her?" Kelly asked.

"No, it was just a phone consult," Kevin said. "Why?"

"Because I just poked my head in to check on her after I put Liam to bed," Kelly said. "She looks terrible, Kevin. Much worse than she did this morning. I think if she's not any better in the morning, we need to take her to the hospital, not the GP's office."

Kevin frowned. "I suggested the hospital this afternoon, and she said no," he said. "According to Natalie, she just needs a little rest and then she'll be good as new."

"It looks like more than exhaustion to me," Kelly said. "She hardly seems like she could even put up much of a fight at this point, which for Natalie is really saying something."

"I vote she goes to the hospital in the morning whether she likes it or not," Joey said. "You know heads will roll if Mom finds out she was sick and we don't do anything about it."

"Alright," Kevin agreed. "If she's not any better in the morning, we'll go to the hospital."

"I just don't get how it got to this point in the first place," Joey said. "I knew she and Jessica were going through a rough patch, but a fight in Angel Square? How the hell did it come to that?"

"Well, I seem to recall the two of you having a similar fight for not so dissimilar reasons at one point," Kelly pointed out.

"I guess sometimes history repeats itself," Joey said. "How did we get past that?"

"Time, I guess," Kevin said. "I don't know what the usual time period is to forgive your sibling for stealing the person you were in love with, but…"

"Can we use a term other than stealing?" Kelly asked. "It makes me sound like a toy that you two were fighting over. I didn't belong to either of you at any point, I'd like that to be very clear."

"Fine, call it whatever you want," Kevin said. "I hope it'll at least be easier for Jessica to forgive Natalie now that she's not actually going to marry Brody."

"She's not?" Joey asked.

"Apparently not," Kevin said. "She left the engagement ring and a note on the kitchen table before she left Llanview."

"God, this whole thing is such a mess," Kelly said. "Are you sure it wouldn't be better if she and Jessica just talked it out face to face?"

"I don't think that's a good idea right now," Kevin said. "I think Natalie needs a little time to figure out what she wants on her own, without the pressures of Brody or Jessica or any of those relationships."

"You just want her to stick around because you're tired of me and Kelly outvoting you on dinner plans every night," Joey said.

Kevin shook his head and laughed. "That too," he agreed.

"I know I got yelled at the last time I suggested this," Kelly said. "But you really need to let us find you a girlfriend, Kevin. Even Zane agrees it's getting a little pathetic."

"And on that note, I'm going to bed," Kevin said, standing up from the table. "For the record, I'm perfectly happy on my own right now, and the two of you are obnoxious people who need to mind your own business."

Joey and Kelly exchanged an amused look as Kevin walked out of the room, bursting out in laughter as the door closed behind him.

* * *

It was well after midnight when a sudden noise from the hallway woke Kelly from her sleep. Turning her head, she poked her still-sleeping partner in the shoulder.

"Joey, did you hear that?"

"Mmm…'s probably Kevin. Go back to sleep," Joey muttered, rolling over and tossing his arm around her waist.

Shaking her head, Kelly pushed his arm off of her and slowly sat up, slipping on her slippers before making her way to the bedroom door. Pushing it open and stepping into the hall, she frowned when she saw Liam sitting in front of the railing at the top of the staircase.

"Hey buddy," she said quietly, crouching down to his level as she approached him. "What are you doing out of bed all alone? Where's your mom?"

"Mama!"

Kelly felt her stomach twist nervously as she followed the little boy's pointed hand and looked through the railing, gasping at the sight at the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh my God," she said, quickly standing up and running down the stairs, her heart pounding as she reached the bottom and knelt down next to the lifeless body of her former sister-in-law.

"Joey!" she screamed at the top of her lungs, carefully turning Natalie over to check for a pulse. "C'mon, Natalie, stay with me. Please, stay with me. Joey!"

* * *

"She's going to be alright."

Kevin paused in the middle of the private waiting room, turning around to face Joey, who was sitting in one of the plastic chairs on the opposite side of the room, Kelly sitting next to him with one hand in his while her other gently rocked Liam's car seat carrier on her other side.

"You don't know that," Kevin said, resuming his nervous pacing of the room.

"She has to be," Joey said. "She's young, she's healthy, she…"

"Did you not see the blood?" Kevin asked. "Didn't you see how pale she was? God, Joe, she barely had a pulse when they were putting in that ambulance back at the house. I really thought we were going to get here and they were going to tell us she'd died on the way."

"But she didn't," Joey said. "She's alive, and now she's got the best doctors in London evaluating her. She's going to pull through this, she's too…"

Kevin's pacing froze and Joey and Kelly were immediately on their feet when the door opened and a doctor stepped into the room.

"Family of Natalie Banks?"

"That's us," Joey said, stepping up beside Kevin. "I'm Joey Buchanan, this is Kevin. We're Natalie's brothers. And, uh, this is my girlfriend, Kelly."

"I'm Dr. Winters," the man said. "Why don't all of you have a seat so we can discuss your sister's condition?"

"Is she alright?" Kevin asked anxiously. "Is she alive? Can we see her?"

"Mr. Buchanan, I really think it would be a good idea for you to take a seat before we begin," Dr. Winters suggested.

"Just tell me she's alright," Kevin insisted.

"Mr. Buchanan…"

"Fine, fine, I'm sitting," Kevin said, holding his hands up as he sat down across from the doctor. "Please, tell us she's going to be okay. She has to be okay, Dr. Winters."

"Your sister's condition is extremely serious," he said. "She has a fracture in her left arm that will probably need to be repaired surgically in the next few days. There's an area of bleeding in her brain that we're monitoring closely at the moment. We're hopeful she won't need surgery for that, but if it expands much more, we may not have a choice. It also appears that she's in septic shock, which could be the reason she fell in the first place."

"Septic shock?" Joey asked. "What, like from an infection? She wasn't feeling well this morning, so we called our family doctor. He thought she picked up a virus while she was traveling out here from Pennsylvania. Could this be from that?"

Dr. Winters shook his head. "I think it's unlikely," he said. "This is a delicate question, I know, but were any of you aware that Ms. Banks was recently pregnant?"

"Pregnant?" Joey repeated. "No way. No, she would have said something…Kevin?"

Kevin sighed and nodded as he sank down into a chair. "She had a miscarriage four days ago," he said. "She was about ten weeks along."

"Four days ago? But that was when…" Joey paused as he sorted things out in his head. "Oh. She lost the baby because of the fight?"

Kevin nodded. "It's why she left Llanview," he said. "She told me she needed some time to sort out her feelings about everything."

"What does a miscarriage have to do with her condition, though?" Kelly asked.

"It appears that the miscarriage was incomplete," Dr. Winters explained. "There was tissue retained in her uterus that then became infected. Once that infection entered her bloodstream, it spread quickly. She would probably have had a fever, been extremely weak and fatigued, possibly confused. I suspect that that accounts for a previously healthy young woman suddenly falling down the stairs as she did."

"You can treat it, can't you?" Joey asked anxiously. "If she's got an infection, you can give her antibiotics and she'll get better."

"We've got her on some very strong antibiotics now," the doctor said. "They're also preparing to take her to the operating theatre shortly to remove the retained tissue from her uterus. I can assure you, she's getting the best care possible, but as I said, her condition is extremely serious. She's not out of the woods by any means, and I expect that we won't know for sure whether or not she'll pull through for at least another twenty-four to forty-eight hours."

"Can we see her?"

"We have her sedated in our critical care unit at the moment while they're preparing the operating theater," Dr. Winters said. "She wasn't properly oxygenating, and we had to place a breathing tube to help her breathe. She likely won't know you're there, but I think we can allow you a short visit before she's taken back."


	5. Chapter 5

"I think you'd better make the call," Kevin said, looking at his brother as they left the ICU half an hour later.

"Why me?"

"I got a little snippy with her when I called to tell her Natalie was in London," Kevin said. "I think this would be better coming from you right now."

"Kevin, I…"

"Joey, please," Kevin said. "I just…I can't. Not right now. I can't be the one who tells Mom that Natalie might die."

"She's not going to die," Joey insisted.

"Were you listening to the same doctor I was?" Kevin asked angrily. "Did you see the same person in that hospital room just now? She's not breathing on her own, she's barely keeping her blood pressure high enough to keep herself alive, and she's whiter than the sheets, Joey. How can you stand there and tell me that that's okay? That she's not in serious danger right now?"

"I didn't say she was okay," Joey said defensively. "But Natalie's a fighter and I believe that she's going to pull through this. I refuse to accept that our little sister is going to be anything but okay, and if that's the attitude you're taking, then you're right, maybe it's better that I call Mom."

Kevin shook his head, looking like he was about to say something else before thinking better of it. "I'm going to get a cup of coffee," he said, grabbing his coat and walking out of the room.

Sinking down in a chair, Joey pulled out his cell phone and stared at it silently for a few minutes, dreading the call he knew he had no choice but to make. Plugging in the familiar number he held the phone to his ear and waited as it rang.

"Hello?"

"Mom, it's me…Joey."

On the other side of the ocean, Viki smiled slightly at her younger son's voice. "Joey, darling, it's good to hear your voice," she said. "How are you?"

"Mom, I need to talk to you about something," Joey said. "Are you alone right now?"

Viki frowned, looking over at the table where Clint and Jessica were pretending not to eavesdrop. "No, I'm not," she said. "Your father and Jessica are here with me."

"Good, that's good," Joey said. "You'll probably want to sit down too."

"Sweetheart, you're scaring me," Viki said as she sat down at the kitchen table. "What's going on?"

"It's about Natalie," Joey said.

Viki sighed and shook her head. "Darling, I already spoke to Kevin about Natalie," she said. "And I'll tell you exactly what I told him, which is that your sister needs to come home and deal with what happened. The two of you are not doing her any favors by sheltering her in London."

"Mom…"

"Jessica is just as upset about all of this as she is," Viki said, ignoring the way Jessica rolled her eyes at that statement. "This whole situation has been very hard on her. Some of the things Natalie said…"

"Yeah, well, from what I've seen Jessica gave as good as she got," Joey said, feeling some of the same defensiveness he'd earlier chided Kevin for expressing. "But Mom, that's not what I need to talk to you about, though. Natalie's…Mom, Natalie's in pretty bad shape right now."

"Regardless, nothing is going to be accomplished by her hiding in another country," Viki said. "She needs to come home so that she and Jessica can face what has happened. There are apologies that need to be made and fences that need to be mended. Your sister's bruises will fade, but…"

"Mom, I'm not talking about bruises or hurt feelings here," Joey interrupted. "Natalie's in the hospital. She's in the ICU."

Viki gasped as she gripped the edge of the table to steady herself.

"Oh Joey, what happened?" she asked anxiously. "Was there some sort of accident?"

"She fell down the stairs at Mayfair," Joey said, figuring the complicated details could be saved for later. "It's pretty bad, Mom."

"How bad?"

"She's in surgery right now," he said. "She's got broken bones, some sort of infection, bleeding in her brain, and the trauma doctor, he…well…"

"What?" Viki asked, sensing the hesitation in his voice. "What did the doctor say?"

"They said it's going to be at least twenty four hours before we…before we know if she's going to make it," Joey said, his voice cracking slightly. "She's strong, Mom, she's a fighter. She's going to be okay, I know it, but…but the doctors are really worried about her. Kevin and I, we think you should be here. You should all get here as quickly as possible, Mom."

* * *

A few minutes later, Viki was still trying to process what she'd heard as she hung up the phone with shaking hands and looked across the table at Clint and Jessica.

"Mom? What's wrong?" Jessica asked. "What did Joey say?"

Viki shook her head as she looked down at the phone, as though she couldn't quite believe that the news she'd just heard and was expecting Joey to call back at any moment to tell her it had all been a horrible joke.

"Viki?" Clint prompted. "Is it about Natalie?"

"She's in the hospital," Viki said softly. "Natalie's in the hospital."

"Don't tell me she's putting on some sort of victim act now," Jessica groaned. "For crying out loud, it's been four days. She walked away from that fight same as I did, a couple of bruises, nothing more. The fact that she doesn't have the guts to come home and face the fact that the rest of the family hates…"

"Jessica, that's enough," Viki interrupted, holding up a trembling hand. "Your sister is not putting on an act."

"She ran away to another country, Mom, how do we know what she's doing?" Jessica countered. "Come on, this is Natalie we're talking about, I wouldn't put anything past her. For all we know, she's roped Kevin and Joey into her sick game and…"

"Jessica, she's in intensive care," Viki snapped. "She's bleeding into her brain, she's got multiple broken bones, and they've put her on a ventilator. Natalie may very well be capable of a lot of things that you and I don't like, but faking that is not one of them."

"She's…no," Jessica shook her head. "She walked away, Mom. We both walked away. You said it yourself, bruises and hurt feelings, that's it. I _never_ hit her hard enough to cause any of that! I couldn't, I…"

"Darling, I know you didn't," Viki said. "No one is blaming you for this."

"Then how…?"

"She had some sort of fall at Mayfair," Viki said. "Joey wasn't very specific on the details. It happened a couple of hours ago, the boys and Kelly called an ambulance and got her to the hospital as fast as they could, but she's in bad shape. Joey said…well, he said the doctors aren't sure she's going to make it."

Clint reached out and put his hand on Viki's as she broke down in tears at the last statement, while Jessica stared at her mother, still not quite able to wrap her head around the conflicting emotions swirling around inside her at that moment.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: **Happy new year! 2019 brought me a new job and a whole lot less writing time than I would have liked, but my goals for 2020 include better time management...and with that, the time to finish my two unfinished OLTL stories, as well as a few other unpublished stories I've had brewing in my files for a while!

* * *

Kevin was half asleep in the small family room attached to the ICU when a sudden commotion roused him from his sleep. Glancing at the clock, he groaned when realized it wasn't even six in the morning yet. It had only been an hour or two since he'd sent Joey and Kelly home with Liam, and he'd just settled down enough to start to drift off in his chair. Feeling slightly disoriented from the exhaustion, it took him a moment to realize that the commotion was coming from Natalie's room. Rushing into the hallway, he was just in time to see a pair of nurses wheeling Natalie's bed out of the room toward the elevators.

"What's happening?" he asked anxiously, drawing the attention of the ICU doctor.

"Sir, I need you to step back into the waiting room," one of the nurses said.

"That's my sister," Kevin said, watching as the team with Natalie's bed stopped at the elevator. "Where are you taking my sister? Just tell me what's happening, please."

"Dr. Hancock," the nurse called out to a young doctor standing near Natalie's hospital bed. "Could you update Ms. Banks' brother?"

The doctor nodded and stepped away from the bed. "I'll meet you down there," she said to the team as the elevator doors opened, turning back to face Kevin. "You're Ms. Banks' brother?"

Kevin nodded. "Please, tell me what's going on," he said. "Where are you taking my sister?"

"Your sister had a seizure a few minutes ago," Dr. Hancock said. "We've given her some medication to stop the convulsions, but I presume Dr. Winters told you about the bleeding in her brain?"

"He did," Kevin said.

"Well, a seizure could be a sign that that bleeding is getting worse," she said. "We're taking her to the radiology suite for a scan of her brain."

"And if it's getting worse?" Kevin asked. "What happens then? Can you fix it?"

"If the bleed is expanding, we'll need to operate immediately to prevent the pressure causing permanent brain damage," Dr. Hancock said. "I've alerted our neurosurgeon to the situation already. He's standing by for our call after the scan is complete, and we've put an operating theatre on hold."

"You think she's bleeding, don't you?"

"I think it's the most likely explanation for the seizure, yes," Dr. Hancock said. "Look, I need to get downstairs to the radiology suite. Why don't you go back to the family room? We'll get you an update as quickly as we can."

* * *

Joey and Kelly had joined Kevin in the waiting room by the time the doctor returned. As soon as she entered the room, Kevin could tell from the look on her face that it wasn't going to be good news.

"The bleed's getting worse, isn't it?" he asked knowingly, glancing over at Joey, who was gripping Kelly's hand tightly as they stood just behind him.

Dr. Hancock nodded. "We sent her straight from the radiology suite to the operating theatre," she said. "The hemorrhage in her brain appears to be expanding rapidly. Our neurosurgeon will be out to update you as quickly as she can, but this is likely to be a long, complex procedure. I wouldn't expect to hear anything until midday at the earliest."

"How bad is it?" Joey asked anxiously. "You do this all the time, right? She's going to be alright?"

The doctor hesitated. "It's a complex procedure," she said. "Any time surgery is performed on the brain, there are significant risks involved, especially with someone who was already in a precarious condition. Our neurosurgical team is excellent, but there are no guarantees."

"So what can we do?" Kelly asked, squeezing Joey's hand gently.

"At this point, all any of us can do is wait for an update from our neurosurgeon," Dr. Hancock said. "As I said, it may be a long wait. If you'd like to go home and get some rest, this might be a good time to do so. I can have one of our nurses call you when your sister is out of the operating theatre."

"I'm not going anywhere," Kevin said. "Not until I know that Natalie's out of the woods."

"We'll stay too," Kelly said.

Joey turned to face his girlfriend. "You don't have to spend your whole day here," he said. "I know you don't even like Natalie."

"I don't hate her, Joey," Kelly said. "We've had disagreements over the years, sure, but she's your sister. Right now, that's all that matters. So as long as you two are here, I'll be here too. I'm sure Neville doesn't mind watching Liam while we're here."

"I have to get back to the unit now," Dr. Hancock said. "As soon as we hear anything, we'll be in to update you."

"We should call Mom and Dad," Joey said as the door closed behind the doctor.

"Mom's on a plane right now, we won't be able to reach her for a few more hours," Kevin said. "I guess we could call Dad and Jessica."

"Are they not coming with your mother?" Kelly asked.

Kevin shook his head. "Dad's on house arrest, remember?" he said. "He said he'd try to get some sort of permission to come over, but it could take a while, if it happens at all."

"And Jessica?"

"She says she's not coming," Kevin said.

"Don't get him started," Joey said. "I heard him yelling at her on the phone."

"I don't care what happened between them," Kevin said. "Natalie is her sister, and she should be here."

"I'm sure she's dealing with a lot right now," Kelly said.

"Well, one of these days she's going to wake up and forgive Natalie and realize that no matter what, they're sisters," Kevin said. "But if Natalie doesn't make it, when Jessica finally comes around, she's never going to forgive herself for not being here…and I'm not sure I will either."

"Kevin…"

"He's right," Joey said. "I don't care what happened between them, they're still sisters. Twin sisters, even. When I found out about you and Kevin, I thought I was never going to forgive either of you, remember? But I would have still been there if our fight had landed Kevin the hospital."

"Joey, I love you, but I think you're rewriting history," Kelly said. "But I get what you're saying. Maybe Jessica just needs some time."

"Let's just hope they've both got that time," Kevin said, glancing across the hall at Natalie's empty hospital room.

* * *

Meanwhile, three thousand miles away in Llanview, John frowned as he walked into Rodi's and spotted the familiar blonde woman sitting at the end of the bar, an untouched beer sitting in front of her as she stared blankly at it.

"How long has she been here?" he asked his bartender, nodding toward her.

"A couple of hours," the bartender said. "She's not causing any trouble, but hasn't touched that drink the whole time. Just kind of stares at it. You want me to get rid of her?"

"Nah, I got it," John said, taking the beer the other man held out to him before making his way down to the end of the bar.

"I thought you weren't supposed to drink," he commented, watching carefully for signs of who was answering him back.

"I'm not drinking, I'm staring," Jessica said, not looking up from the glass. "Don't freak out, Tess isn't back or anything."

"Something on your mind?"

Jessica sighed and nodded. "Natalie," she said, finally looking up at John.

"Yeah, I heard you two had it out," John said.

"I just don't understand her sometimes," Jessica said. "She doesn't love him."

"You don't know that," John said.

"Trust me, I do," Jessica said, picking up the glass and swirling it around before setting it back down. "If you hadn't rejected her, she wouldn't be with him. She's not in love with him, not even close."

"You're saying this is my fault?"

"In a way, yes," Jessica said. "If you could have admitted that you love Natalie and that that's all that matters, the two of you would probably be married by now, or at least still together. And she wouldn't have started seeing Brody, so she and I wouldn't have had been fighting, and then she wouldn't have run off to London, and she certainly wouldn't be lying in a hospital bed right now."

John nearly choked on his beer. "She's where?"

Jessica sighed. "Yeah, I guess you wouldn't have heard," she said. "She had some sort of accident, she tripped on the stairs or something."

"Why is she in the hospital?" John asked. "Did she break her leg?"

Jessica shook her head. "Joey said something about bleeding in her brain," she said. "She's in the ICU, apparently. I guess it's pretty bad."

John frowned as he put down his beer. "What the hell are you doing here?" he asked.

"It's as good a place as any to hide," Jessica said.

"No, I mean why are you _here_," John said. "As in Llanview. Why aren't you on a plane to London?"

"She slept with my ex-fiance," Jessica said. "She was going to marry him, John. You haven't forgiven her, why should I?"

"She's your sister," John pointed out. "And you don't know that I haven't forgiven her."

Jessica raised an eyebrow as she looked up at him. "If you've forgiven her, why haven't you told her?"

"Because it's not that simple anymore," John said. "I'm not going to barge back into her life and try to break up a family."

Jessica scoffed. "They were hardly a family," she said. "And she left the engagement ring on the kitchen counter, so I don't think they're a family at all now."

"She broke up with him?"

"I don't know," Jessica said with a shrug. "It's hard to tell with Natalie these days. He took it as a break up, so I guess there's that."

"So the question still stands," John said. "Why the hell aren't you on your way to London?"

"Break up or not, it doesn't change the fact that she stole my fiance," Jessica said. "That's not something I'm going to get over just because she tripped and fell."

"You can be as angry as you want, Jessica, but if Natalie's that sick…" John sighed. "Look, I'm no expert on Natalie, if I could have figured her out years ago, things might be very different right now. But the one thing I do know about her is that everything she does, every crazy scheme she tries, every mistake she seems to make…it all comes from the same place, it all comes from wanting to be part of a family."

"She is part of a family," Jessica said. "She knows that."

"On some level," John agreed. "But you don't always outgrow your childhood, either, you should know that. There's a part of Natalie that's always going to be that little girl that Roxy ignored, the one who just wanted to have a real family, to have someone who cared about her and accepted her. I think she just wanted to make sure Liam never had to feel that way."

"Yeah, well, she's got a hell of a way of going about it," Jessica said. "Anyway, after everything that's happened, she wouldn't want me there now."

"Jessica, she always wants you there," John said. "Don't you get it? The type of family Natalie wants is the one that'll always shows up when you need them. She wants someone who'll drop everything for her, because she's the most important person in the world to them, and they can't imagine life without her."

Jessica smiled sadly as she shook her head and pushed her drink away before standing up. "Then maybe that's what you should try, John," she suggested, tossing some money on the counter before walking away, leaving John to ponder her words.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N:** Alright, I know there's a lot of talking in this chapter, but it's setting the stage for some big events to come, and I tried to use it to answer a few questions I've been getting about where certain characters are and what storylines from the show will be addressed here. The next couple chapters will be moving the story forward even more. I hope you all enjoy!

* * *

John sighed heavily as he tossed a shirt into the duffel bag sitting on his bed and stepped back to stare at the bag.

"What the hell am I thinking?" he muttered to himself, shaking his head as he started to reach into the bag to unpack it, pausing at the sound of someone pounding on his door. Frowning, he set the shirt back in the bag and quickly made his way across his small living room to the door.

"It's about damn time, I thought I was gonna have to use my key," Roxy announced, pushing past John into the apartment.

"Please, come in," John said, motioning to the couch where Roxy had already taken a seat. "No, I mind you dropping by when the sun's barely up."

"Oh please, don't give me that act," Roxy said as John closed the door. "You weren't asleep, and don't pretend that you were. You taking a trip?"

John followed Roxy's gaze to the duffel bag on the bed and shook his head. "I was thinking about it," he said. "But it's not a good idea right now."

"Well, I know you know why I'm here," Roxy said.

"I'm assuming it has something to do with Natalie," John said. "It usually does when you drop in unannounced."

"You heard what happened?"

"I did."

"Oh Johnny, isn't it just awful?" Roxy said. "My poor Natty, she can't catch a break. First you dump her, and then you can't admit that you love her, and then her own sister beats her up, and now she's stuck in another country with somebody cutting open her brain, and Brody's refusing to go to London, and…"

"Hold on," John interrupted. "What about Natalie's brain?"

"Rex talked to Kevin an hour ago," Roxy said. "They had to do an emergency operation for the bleeding in her head, I guess she had a caesar or something and…"

"A seizure?" John clarified.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever."

John sighed as he pressed his fingertips into his forehead to calm himself. "Roxy, these conversations would be a lot easier if you'd at least wait until noon to start the vodka."

"Shut up, that's not the point!" Roxy snapped.

"What exactly is the point here, Roxy?"

"The point is, Johnny boy, that the woman you yourself admitted to me you're still in love with, is in trouble," Roxy said. "What are you gonna do about that?"

"Roxy, it's not that simple," John said. "Besides, if you're that worried, why aren't you in London?"

"Because I got more than one kid, that's why," Roxy said. "And Rex is falling apart right here in Llanview, and he and Shane don't have Viki or Joey or Kevin to rally around him. All they've got is me. Besides, do you have any idea what a last minute ticket to London costs?"

"Five hundred seventy-eight dollars," John said. "One way."

Roxy's eyes widened. "So you are thinking about going to London," she said excitedly.

"I bought the ticket," John admitted. "But I'm not going."

"What the hell do you mean, you're not going?" Roxy asked. "Johnny, don't you get it? This your chance, this is your moment. Show up for her! Fight for her!"

"Roxy…"

"Johnny, listen to me! I know I'm a screwed up drunk with a terrible track record in relationships and parenting," Roxy said. "But I promise you, as sure as I am that blondes going brunette is always a bad idea, if you go to London and you're there when Natalie wakes up, and the first thing she hears is that you still love her…well, that's it. Game over, you two are back together."

"You don't know that," John said.

"I do," Roxy said sincerely. "John, if you don't go, you're going to spend the rest of your life regretting it. You already bought the ticket, just get on the damn plane!"

* * *

On the other side of the Atlantic, Viki sighed wearily as she settled into the front passenger seat of the car and pulled her seatbelt across her chest.

"I appreciate you picking me up," she commented.

"Well, I wasn't about to have you take a cab," Kelly said. "And Neville's at home with Liam, so I volunteered."

"How's he doing? Does have any idea what's going on?" Viki asked.

Kelly shook her head. "He's only ten months old, Viki," she said. "I doubt he's got a clue that anything's even changed."

"And the boys?" Viki asked, glancing out the window at the London streets. "How are they holding up?"

Kelly hesitated. "They're hanging in there," she finally said. "I think they both want to be strong for Natalie and for each other, but they're worried. I mean, they were worried about Natalie even before she fell, but now…I don't know, maybe I'm just seeing things aren't there, but I think they feel guilty."

"Guilty? Why?"

"Because it happened in our home," Kelly said. "It happened under our watch. We knew she was sick, that things weren't right, but we didn't drag her to the hospital yesterday. Maybe if we had…"

"Stop that," Viki interrupted. "Kelly, I don't understand exactly what happened or how Natalie got so sick, but it was not their fault. And it wasn't yours either, so you stop feeling guilty too."

"Was it that obvious?"

"Only to a mother," Viki said, smiling sadly as she reached out and squeezed Kelly's hand.

Kelly nodded as a comfortable silence fell over the car for a few minutes while she navigated the ever-present city traffic.

"Any word on if Clint will be able to get approval to come over?" Kelly finally asked.

"Nothing yet," Viki said. "Honestly, it's hard to even know who to call to find out."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, of course he called his lawyer," Viki said. "But he's out of town, and anyway these things take time if you go through the official channels. Normally I'd call Bo to see if he could do anything, but he and Nora have so much on their plate with Matthew still being in a coma. And then I would have called Tea, but she's just not doing well with Victor's death and I couldn't bring myself to bother her with this."

"Do you want me to call Aunt Dorian?" Kelly asked.

"You'd do that?" Viki asked in surprise.

"Of course I would," Kelly said. "I can't promise she'll be thrilled at the idea of doing a favor for Clint…or for Natalie, for that matter. But we'll never know if I don't ask. It might not be easy, but she might be able to pull some strings."

"Whatever we have to do, I have a feeling getting Clint here will be a lot easier than getting Jessica to come," Viki said.

"She's that angry?"

"Her sister had just agreed to marry the man that she's still in love with," Viki said. "That anger doesn't disappear just because Natalie's sick, even if it should. I know it sounds crazy, but the whole flight out here, I just kept thinking how different things could have been if Liam could have only been John McBain's son."

"It still seems odd to me that he isn't," Kelly said.

"What do you mean?"

"Look, I know he's Brody's son, I understand that," Kelly said. "And honestly, I hadn't really spent any time with him until this week, but every time I pick him up and look at him, I find myself thinking the same thing."

"Which is?"

Kelly hesitated as she glanced over at Viki. "That baby has John's eyes," she said.

"Well, if you really need proof, I asked Llanview Hospital to fax Natalie's medical records to Mayfair in case her doctors here needed to see them," Viki said. "The paternity test might be in there."

"Oh, no, I didn't mean it that way," Kelly said quickly. "Lots of people who aren't related have similar features. I guess I'm just saying, I get how she could have passed him off as John's…and they might have been better off if he'd stayed that way."


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: **I hope everyone is staying healthy and safe in these strange times! I've been working on this chapter for weeks now, and although it still feels a bit rambling, I think it moves forward the plot points which I wanted moved. So, here it is! We're getting closer to some big stuff in the next few chapters; in the meantime, please enjoy!

* * *

"Are you ready?"

Viki shook her head as she looked over at Kevin standing next to her and felt him squeeze her hand.

"No," she said quietly. "But that doesn't matter right now, does it? Let's go."

Kevin nodded and reached his free hand forward to push open the door to the hospital room and stepped back to let his mother walk in first. Viki took a few steps into the room and seemed to freeze, standing completely still as she stared at the woman lying in the hospital bed in front of her, bright white bandages wrapped around her head, tubes and machines coming from seemingly every angle.

"Mom?" Kevin asked gently, stopping a step behind her. "Are you okay?"

Viki took a breath and shook her head again. "I know it's her, I do," she said, not taking her eyes of her daughter. "But it doesn't look like her, Kevin. I just…what happened? How did she go from my fiery, spirited, stubborn girl to this? Machines breathing for her, tubes everywhere…how is this her?"

"You heard the doctors, Mom," Kevin said. "She made it through the brain surgery, but it was hard on her. It's going to be a long road ahead. But her fever's coming down, the infection seems to be improving, and they've got a drain in so the swelling doesn't build up again in her brain and…"

"I understood what the doctor said," Viki interrupted. "But none of this makes sense, Kevin. She's already been through so much, and now this? If I close my eyes, I can see the last time I saw her. I can see her eyes and her smile and her hair. And I open my eyes and I don't see any of that."

"You will," Kevin said. "She's going to wake up, Mom, and when she does, you'll see all of that again."

"If she even wants me here," Viki said.

"What are you talking about?" Kevin asked.

"She knew I disapproved of her recent choices," Viki said. "She thought that meant I had picked Jessica over her. She stopped trusting me, Kevin."

"You know that's not true," Kevin said. "Natalie loves you more than anything, Mom."

"She came to you," Viki pointed out. "My daughter was hurt and scared and needed someone who she trusted would be on her side no matter what. She was a ten minute drive away from me, but instead, she got on airplane and flew thousands of miles to you. She stopped trusting that I would be on her side, and that's the same thing as not trusting me. And don't get me wrong, I am so grateful that she has that sort of relationship with you and with Joe, that she felt that she could come to you boys…but that doesn't mean I don't still wish she'd known she could come to me."

"The last few months have been complicated for everyone," Kevin said gently. "But Mom, that doesn't change the fact that she's your daughter, and she does love you, no matter what's happened. And when she wakes up, it's going to mean the world to her that you're here, and nothing else is going to matter to her."

"I hope you're right," Viki said, shaking as she slipped her hand into Natalie's and sat down at her bedside.

* * *

Kelly sighed wearily as she slowly approached the staircase at Mayfair later that afternoon. She paused at the base of the stairs, her eyes immediately drawn to the spot where she'd found Natalie less than twenty-four hours earlier. The two women had never been particularly close, and they definitely hadn't been on good terms when Kelly was last in Llanview, but it had still shaken her to see her lying there. She'd been putting on a brave face for Joey and Kevin and Viki, but as she stood alone at the foot of those stairs, unable to tear her eyes away from the faint remnants of blood Neville hadn't yet been able to remove, she felt the tears welling up in her eyes.

"Mom?"

Kelly jumped slightly at the unexpected voice interrupting her thoughts. Turning around, she quickly wiped the tears from her cheeks and stared in disbelief at the sight of her son standing in the hallway.

"Zane," she said in surprise. "What are you doing here?"

"We're on school holiday," Zane said. "We've been talking about this for week, remember?"

"Oh sweetheart, I thought that was next week," Kelly said. "I'm so sorry, I can't believe I forgot, I…"

"It's okay, Mom," Zane said. "Neville was scrubbing blood off the floor when I got here, I figured it had been a big couple of days."

"It's still not okay," Kelly said. "I should have been there to pick you up at the train station."

"I was fine taking a taxi," Zane said. "Is Aunt Natalie okay?"

Kelly hesitated. "It's too soon to say," she said, shaking her head. "Come on, let's get a snack and I'll catch you up on everything that's going on."

* * *

Kelly raised an eyebrow as they walked into the ktichen and she saw the stack of papers sitting on the table. "You're working on homework?" she asked skeptically.

Zane glanced guiltily at the papers. "Sort of," he said, reaching out to grab the pages off the table before Kelly could pick them up.

Kelly frowned and didn't say a word as she held out her hand until her teenage son eventually sighed and handed the paperwork to her. Looking down, she furrowed her brow in confusion as she skimmed through the first few pages.

"Where did you get these?" she asked.

"They were on the fax machine in Grandpa's office," Zane admitted. "I got curious. I was gonna put them back, you just came home before I thought you would."

"Zane, these are Natalie's medical records," Kelly said, looking up at her son. "You had no right to be reading these, they're personal."

"Right, but Mom, I found something," Zane said. "According to these papers…"

"Why were you in Kevin's office anyway?" Kelly asked.

"No reason."

Kelly tilted her head and stared at him silently again.

"I, uh, I thought those might be my school reports," Zane said. "I was, um, I was going to bring them to you."

"Zane Buchanan, do you think I was born yesterday?" Kelly asked.

Zane sighed. "I failed a class," he admitted reluctantly.

"I know," Kelly said. "You failed algebra. I just wanted you to say it."

"What? How do you know already?" Zane asked in surprise.

"Your school reports come by email now," Kelly said.

"Email? Since when?"

"Since your school finally joined the twenty-first century about three months ago," Kelly said. "Now, I'm going to put these records back in Kevin's office while you think about what an appropriate punishment should be."

"Mom, you still need to see what's in those papers," Zane said. "Trust me, it's big."

"Zane, these are Natalie's records," Kelly said. "Viki had them sent over in case they're needed by her doctors here. They're none of our business."

"Right, but Mom, just hear me out," Zane said. "Maybe I shouldn't have read them…okay, fine, I shouldn't have read them. But I did, and I can't unread them. And something's not adding up, Mom."

Kelly sighed. "Alright, what are you talking about?"

"Aunt Natalie's records from when she had her kid say that she's got O-negative blood, and her son has B-negative."

"So what?"

"So there's another record from her ER visit a few days ago, when Aunt Jessica beat her up," Zane said. "And I don't know if this is common knowledge, or if I'm just blowing all Natalie's secrets out of the water right now…"

"Are you talking about the fact that she had a miscarriage?" Kelly asked.

"Oh good, you know about that," Zane said.

"I know, and Kevin and Joey know, but as far as we know, that's it," Kelly said. "So let's keep that one quiet."

"Right, okay, so my point was in that record, the doctor asked Natalie what the baby's father's blood type was," Zane said. "And this baby supposedly had the same father as Liam, right?"

"Brody Lovett, yes," Kelly said. "So what?"

"So she told the doctor that his blood type was A-positive," Zane said.

"So?"

"So if Natalie's type O, and Liam's type B, Liam's father has to have type B," Zane said. "Or I guess AB, but there has to be a B in there, that's the important part."

"Are you sure?" Kelly asked. "They had a DNA test done that proved Brody was Liam's father."

"I failed algebra, not biology, Mom," Zane said. "I'm sure. I don't know what happened with that DNA test, but the blood types are pretty clear. Besides, have you looked at the track record for that lab in Llanview? I mean, I live an entire ocean away, and I know that I wouldn't trust any test they did."

"Okay, but Natalie works in forensics," Kelly said. "She'd know that the blood types didn't match up."

"So maybe she's lying," Zane said.

Kelly shook her head. "I'd assume a lot of bad things about Natalie, but not that," she said. "She's been in love with John McBain for years, she'd never pretend his son wasn't his. Liam's paternity ended their relationship, there's no way she would lied about Liam not being John's."

"Then maybe she didn't know," Zane said. "It's in the records, but I'd bet most parents don't know their kid's blood type. What's mine?"

"Um…well…"

"I rest my case," Zane said. "So, what do we do now?"

"What do you mean?"

"We have to tell someone, right?" Zane asked. "I mean, this is big. We have to tell the family."

Kelly shook her head. "They have enough to deal with right now," she said. "Besides, we don't know that there's anything to tell. Maybe Natalie got Brody's blood type wrong."

"Mom…"

"Zane, that's enough," Kelly said. "Let me handle this. We're not going to rush into something and cause any more stress for anyone until we know for sure."

"And how exactly are we going to do that?"

"_We_ aren't going to do anything," Kelly said. "I will take care of this. _You_ will keep your mouth shut while I figure out what an appropriate punishment for failing algebra is."


End file.
